Starting in early 1986, with the announcement of a superconducting material having a critical temperature (the temperature at which a specimen undergoes the phase transition from a state of normal electrical resistivity to a superconducting state) of 30K (See e.g., Bednorz and Muller, Possible High Tc superconductivity in the Ba-La-Cu-O System, Z.Phys. B-Condensed Matter 64, 189-193 (1986)) materials having successively higher transition temperatures have been announced. In 1987, the so called YBCO superconductors were announced, consisting of a combination of alkaline earth metals and rare earth metals such as barium and yttrium in conjunction with copper. See, e.g., Wu, et al, Superconductivity at 93K in a New Mixed-Phase Y-Ba-Cu-O Compound System at Ambient Pressure, Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 58, No. 9, pp. 908-910 (1987). Thirdly, compounds containing bismuth were discovered. See e.g, Maeda, A New High-Tc Oxide Superconductor Without a Rare Earth Element, J.J. App. Phys. 37, No. 2, pp. L209-210 (1988) and Chu, et al, Superconductivity up to 114K in the Bi-Al-Ca-Ba-Cu-O Compound System Without Rare Earth Elements, Phys. Rev. Lett. 60, No. 10, pp. 941-943 (1988). Finally, superconductors including thallium have been prepared, generally where the compositions have various stoichiometries of thallium, calcium, barium, copper and oxygen. To date, the highest transition temperatures for superconductors have been observed in thallium containing compounds. See, e.g., G. Koren, A. Gupta and R. J. Baseman, Appl.Phys.Lett. 54, 1920 (1989).
A unifying characteristic of these newly discovered superconductors is that they all include copper oxide ("CuO") planes. While the size of the superconducting crystals is often small, sometimes on the order of only microns, when looked at locally, the CuO planes are essentially infinite. If the CuO planes are oriented parallel to the substrate, the film is termed a c-axis film. This plane is sometimes called the basal plane. However, if the CuO planes are oriented perpendicular to the substrate, the film is termed an a-axis film. FIG. 1 shows a c-axis film. The crystal 10 is shown having an array of copper atoms 12. To maintain generality, the other constituents of the superconductor are not shown. The plane 14 shown in phantom is drawn through one of the essentially infinite CuO planes. The plane 14 is substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate 16.
FIG. 2 shows an a-axis high temperature superconducting film. Again, copper atoms 12 are shown defining the superconducting crystal structure. The plane 18 shown in phantom shows one of the infinite CuO planes. The c-axis of the superconductor of FIG. 2 is oriented parallel to the substrate 16. As drawn in FIG. 2, the superconductor has a single orientation of the c-axis (i.e. it has in-plane alignment or preferential orientation). However, in the prior art, a-axis films have a plurality of domains, some of which have a c-axis as shown, and some of which have a c-axis at an angle, typically 90.degree., to the domain shown. When multiple, unoriented domains exist, the film is said to be a polydirectional a-axis film.
The crystal structure for the various high temperature superconducting crystals have been characterized. Taking the case of YBCO, it is said to have a perovskite crystal structure, so named after the mineral perovskite (calcium titanite). FIG. 3 shows the unit cell for a YBCO superconductor. There are three orthoganol axis, the A, B and C axis. The shoe box shaped structure has an A dimension of 3.84 .ANG., a B dimension of 3.88 .ANG. and a C dimension of 11.7 .ANG.. When formed as a c-axis film, the long c-axis is oriented perpendicular to the substrate 16 (See FIG. 1). When oriented as an a-axis film, the long C dimension is oriented parallel to the substrate 16 (See FIG. 2).
Many applications for high temperature superconductors require c-axis oriented films. The superconducting current ("supercurrent") preferentially flows in a direction parallel to the CuO plane. In the case of a c-axis film, the supercurrent flows parallel to the substrate 16, and thus, may flow for relatively long uninterrupted distances. C-axis films are particularly useful for microwave device applications. For other applications, it is desirable to have an a-axis oriented film. As shown in FIG. 2, the CuO planes are oriented perpendicular to the substrate. This makes for a large antisotropy in resistance to supercurrent flow. Flow in the direction parallel to the CuO plane may be readily accomplished, but flow perpendicular to the CuO plane must be by the tunnelling phenomena due to the nature of weakly coupled superconducting state between adjacent CuO planes, resulting in so called tunneling current.
Polydirectional a-axis films have been grown previously. Typically, numerous discrete domains exist where the superconductor is a-axis oriented perpendicular to the substrate, but the c-axis of the various domains are not parallel to one another. If the film is epitaxial, the superconductor will be oriented relative to the crystal structure of the substrate, in which case the various domains will be oriented with equal probability in one of two directions.
Techniques for growing pure a-axis films used in the past have included: RF Magnetron Sputtering With Post-Annealing on SrTiO.sub.3 (001), K. Shar, et al, IEEE Trans. Magn. 25, 2422 (1989); Off-Axis Magnetron Sputtering on Both SrTiO.sub.3 (001) and LaAlO.sub.3 (001), C. B. Eom, A. F. Marshall, S. S. Laderman, R. D. Jacowitz and T. H. Geballe, Science 249, 1549 (1990); and Laser Ablation on PrBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-.delta. Buffered SrTiO.sub.3 (001), A. Inam, C. T. Rogers, R. Remesh, L. Farrow, K. Remcshnig, D. Hart and T. Venjatesan, Applied Physics Letters 57, 2484 (1990) and R. Ramesh, A. Inam, D. L. Hart and C. T. Rogers, Physca C 170, 325 (1990). The in-plane orientation of the superconducting film with respect to the substrate is uncontrolled, with the c-axis of different a-axis domains orienting themselves in two different directions. The C. B. Eom reference, above, suggests use of lower substrate temperatures in a laser ablation device to promote a-axis growth.
None of the prior art references has grown a-axis superconducting films with a preponderance of the superconducting domains having their c-axis aligned in one preferential direction (i.e. having in-plane alignment). This is so despite the clear desirability of such a result.